Lesson 4 of 4 · 4 min
Plans and caps
Your team cannot accidentally spend past a number you set.
A limit is the difference between a surprise and a stop. Setting one is a few minutes of work and it is the thing people wish they had done.
Steps
- Decide the most you are willing to spend in a period.
- Set the limit to that number.
- Decide who gets told when it is approached.
- Agree in advance what happens when it is hit.
Deciding in advance
The moment a limit is reached is a bad time to decide policy, because work has stopped and someone is waiting. Agree beforehand whether the answer is to raise it or to stop.
What to watch for
A limit set too low interrupts real work and trains people to raise it without thinking, which leaves you with no limit at all. Set it where it would only trigger on something genuinely unusual.